But I am not on board for meeting up with her boss at the station and giving up any info on my old pal, Gunner.
Yet, I’m running out of options here. I can’t very well walk up to Gunner next time I see him and shake his hand. Someone wants him dead.
Someone hired Ruthless Corp to do it.
I need answers. And if this guy Frank can search some secret database to find them, then so be it. I’ve already got Rogue searching as well, what’s one more guy looking gonna hurt?
“Ok, I’m in.” I park my bike in a spot by the station, making a note to pick it up on our way back home, and hop behind the driver’s side of my truck. I still can’t believe she stole my vehicle.
Ten minutes later, we arrive at her work complex and I pull next to an old beat-up Chevy in the parking lot. A man wearing a ball cap pulled low, shading his face, looks over at us.
“That’s Frank,” Blue says, opening the truck door. “I’ll be right back.”
I grab her wrist. “Do you trust this guy?”
She smiles. “I’ll be fine.”
I stalk her with my eyes as she crosses to his door and speaks to this Frank guy through his rolled-down window. I crack my neck from side to side as I continue to watch them.
I have an uneasy feeling about this situation.
I can’t see his face. It pisses me off and right when I’m about to step out of my truck, she’s back, hopping into the passenger’s side.
“Ok, Frank will check into it.”
Frank’s already driven away before I can get a good look at him. Fucking bastard.
“I still don’t know if that was our best move.”
“It will be, trust me.”
“Trust you?”
She leans closer to me. “Yes, trust me.”
We make a detour to grab my bike before we head back to my place. My anger’s still brimming near the top and ready to bubble over when we arrive home. My brain still can’t wrap around the fact I saw Gunner Marble. Where has he been for years?
Did he just walk away to join the dark side?
Did he get a better offer?
“Penny for your thoughts?” Blue asks me, emerging from the guest room looking just as beautiful in a pink tank top and black yoga pants as she did in the red dress.
“I’m just wondering what’s going on.” I move closer to Blue, my heart hammering inside my chest. “I’m wondering how you and Frank got mixed up in all of this.”
“We’re on a story. We want to find out who’s behind the sex trafficking.”
I nod. “I get that. How did Frank hear about it all?”
Blue shrugs and the light overhead showcases the graceful slope of her shoulders. “I don’t know.”
I take a seat on the couch, hoping she’ll join me here. “I’ll do anything to protect you.”
“Maybe I don’t need protection,” she says as she sits down next to me.
“I think you do.”
She says nothing, just gazes into my eyes and I nearly get lost in hers. “I’m fine. You don’t owe me anything.”
I laugh a little. “Owe you anything?”
“Well, it’s not your duty to protect me. I just don’t want you thinking I’m yours or something because you bought me.”
I laugh again but there’s no humor behind it. “I do own you.”
She bounds off the couch. “Um, no, you do not.”
I stand. “Yes, I do. You’re mine, and that means it’s my job to keep you safe from everyone. Even yourself.”
She crosses her arms. “Listen, we’ll get you your money back when we take down the whole operation.”
“I don’t want some sort of refund.” Hell, I’d pay the same money again if it means I get to spend any time with her.
She stands in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, and moonlight pours into the room, highlighting all her arousing features.
Her perky tits hiding behind her tank top.
Her long legs leading up to her sweet ass.
And her long brown hair, falling in waves over her shoulders.
I step closer, wanting more than anything to touch her.
“Well, you didn’t technically buy me,” she says, doing the air quotes with her fingers.
“It doesn’t matter. I still owe it to myself to keep you safe at all costs. And I don’t trust Frank.”
“Well, I think he’ll be able to help us.”
I step even closer. “I don’t think so. I think we need to take matters into our own hands.”
Blue purses her lips, her gaze connecting with mine. “I think you’re a big bear and don’t like trusting many people.”
“A bear?” I laugh at her assessment.
“Yes, a bear. All grizzly and growly when you have to trust anyone who isn’t you.”
“Listen, this conversation is going nowhere, and we have real problems happening.”
“That’s why we need to wait for Frank to get back to us.”
I hate that she’s right.